Band-ply applying device



Jan, 22,1946. -N. T. BR BEER mww BAND-FLY APPLYING DEVI CE Filed May 23,1945 INVENTOR I 55' I NORMANTIDRU ER '24 BY l ]pg Patented Jan. 22, 1946UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAND-FLY APPLYING DEVICE Norman '1. Bruber,Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company,Akron, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application May 23, 1945, ScrialNo.595,469

'7 Glaims.

This invention relates to tire building apparatus and more especially itrelates to mechanism for mounting annular bands of rubberized tirefabric upon tire building drums in the manufacture of pneumatic tirecasings.

Before the advent of the flat band" method of manufacturing pneumatictire casings, tires were built upon collapsible cores having generaltorusshape. At that time tire fabric was formed into zanular bands,usually of two plies, of some what, smaller diameter than the peripheraldiameter of the core, and mounted in circumscribing relation to thelatter by stretching it thereover. But this practice did not lend itselfreadily to the manufacture of tire casings upon rotatable drums.Accordingly the tire-building technique was changed, and tire fabric wasmounted upon the drumone ply at a. time, the fabric being drawn fromconveniently adjacent supply rolls comprising long lengths of fabric ofdifferent widths and-bias. The labor of building the tires is arduous.It requires men of large stature and ample strength, the work being tooheavy for ternale operatives.

Due to war time conditions, there is at the present timea scarcity ofcapable men available for the building of tires. There are, however.plenty of women workers available who are capable of performing lightoperations. To pro vide for the employment of female labor in themanufacture of pneumatic tire casings required a change in thetire-building process. It was found that the constructing of endlesstire bands of two or more plies ofrubberized fabric could easily beaccomplished b female operators, and that the use of such bands in themanufacture of drum-built tires was economically advantageous providedthe bands could be mounted upon the drums in a simple and facile manner.It is to the solution of this problem that this invention primarily isdirected.

The chief objects of the invention are to provide apparatus for mountingannular bands of tire-building material upon tire building drums; toprovideapparatus ofth'e character mentioned that readily'is movedbetween operative and inoperative positicns, in the latter of which thedrum is unobstructed so that other operations may be performed thereon;and to provide apparatus of the character mentioned. that may becontrolled by the operator to meet various conditions that may arise.More specifically the invention aims to-enable the employment of femalelabor in performing light operations incidental to the building oftires; and to so lighten the labor of the building that men of smallerstature and less strength may be employed therefor. Other objects willbe manifest as the description proceeds.

Of the accompanying drawing:

embodying the invention, a tire building machine with which the deviceis operatively associated being indicated in dot and dash lines;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail view, on a larger scale, of the work-engaging portionof the device of the invention, a part thereof being broken away and apart being in section; and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line ll4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, there is indicated at Ill the housing of aconventional or preferred tire building machine, which machine includesa driving spindle II projecting laterally from one side thereof and arotatable tire building drum I2 on the outer end of said spindle.Beadsetting devices, fabric stitchers, tread stitchers, stock racks andother mechanisms appurtenant to tire building machines constitute nopart of the present invention and are omitted from the drawing.

The band-placing device embodying the invention is carried by housing IQof the tire building machine, and comprises a pair of angular bracketarms I4, 4- that are mounted upon the to of the housing I8 and overhangthe front wall thereof, the outer end portions of said arms extendingvertically downwardly and having an elongate horizontally disposed plateI5 integrally joined to their lower ends. The bracket arms 14 aresecured to the housing I i! by bolts I5, I6 that extend throughrespective slots I1 in said arms 54, the arrangement being such that theproximity of the plate I 5 to the front of the housing may be adjustedto suit different conditions, for example, dilierent sizes of drums l2.The plate I5 is disposed parallel to the axis of the spindle I I anddrum I2, and is substantially in the same horizontal plane as said axis.

The bracket plate 15 carries a supporting plate Zll that is flushagainst the under face thereof, said supporting plate having a pair ofupstanding, spaced apart threaded studs 2!, 2| that project through anelongate slot 22 formed in the plate l5 and extending longitudinallythereof, there being nuts 23 on said studs for retaining the supportingplate in place. The arrangement is such that the supporting plate 29 isadjustably positionable longitudinally of plate I5.

Mounted flush against the bottom face of the supporting plate 20, ateach side thereof, are respective slide-guides 24, 24 that are securedto the supporting plate 26 by cap screws 25. Posltioned between theguides 24 is a. slide 26 the lateral margins of which are formed withrespective longitudinall extending grooves. The confronting marginalfaces of the guides 24 are similarl grooved whereby are providedraceways, there being a plurality of ball bearings 21 in each raceway.The arrangement is such that the slide 26 is supported by the ballbearings 21, and thereby enabled to move longitudinally relatively ofthe guides 24 and supporting plate 20. Ball-retainer plates, such as theplate 28, are mounted on opposite ends of the slide 26 so as to closethe open ends of the ball race therein, and retainer plates 29, 29 aremounted on opposite ends of the slide-guides 24 for the same purpose,whereby the balls 21 are retained in their raceways.

Mounted upon the under side of the forward end of the slide 26, which isthe end nearest the drum I2, is a bearing block 32 in which is journaleda spindle 33 that is secured to and projects laterally at right anglesfrom a holder or sleeve 34. Journaled in the latter for axial andangular movement therein is a rod 35, and on one end of the said rod 35,adjacent the drum I2, is fixedly mounted a sleeve 36 that is disposedperpendicular thereto. Mounted upon the rod 35 between one end of sleeve34 and the sleeve 36 is a helical compression spring 31 that normallyurges the rod in the direction of said sleeve 36, which movement of therod is limited by an adjustable stop nut 38 that is threaded onto theopposite end portion of said rod and adapted to abut the other end ofsleeve 34. By means of the nut 38 the proximity of the sleeve 36 to thedrum I2 is controlled, whatever the diameter of said drum, the saidsleeve being closely adjacent but not in contact with the drum. On theextremity of the rod 35, outwardly of the nut 38, is an operating handle33 by means of which the rod 35 may be manipulated to turn it angularly,or to draw it outwardly, i. e., away from the drum 12, if desired.

Within the sleeve 34 and extending axially from one end thereof is atubular bearing 42, Fig. 3, that is secured tosaid sleeve by the pin 43,Fig. l. Mounted within the bearing 42 and projecting from the projectingend of the latter is an elongate hollow cylindrical shaft 44, whichshaft is non-rotatably secured to the bearing 42 by a rivet 45,Journaled, on the projecting portion of the bearing 42 is a pair ofcollars 46, 46, and journaled on the shaft 44 is a series of cylindricalrollers 41, 41, each of the latter being formed with a plurality ofaxially-spaced circumferential grooves 48, 48. The roller 41 at the freeend of the shaft 44 extends beyond the end of the latter, and has itsopen end closed by a rounded cap 49 secured in place by a pin 50. Thearrangement is such that the collars 46, rollers 41 and end cap 49 arefree to rotate about a common axis, and that such axis may be parallelto the axis of the drum I2, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2, orat an angle thereto, as shown in broken lines in Fig. 2, under thecontrol of the operator who manipulates the handle 39.

Collectively, the rotatable members 46, 41 and 49 constitute a tool bymeans of which the mountingof an annular band of rubberized fabric 52upon the drum I2 is facilitated. Because said tool is supported by theslide 26,, it is operatively positionable adjacent the drum, as shown infull lines in Fig. 1, or may occupy the inoperative position shown inbroken lines in the same figure, means being provided for urging saidtool normally toward said inoperative position. To this end a bracket 53is secured to the underside of the guides 24, at the rear extremitythereof, spanning the slide 26 in spaced relation thereto, said brackethaving a pulley 54 journaled therein. An anchor plate 55 is attached toone of the guides 24, at the rear extremity thereof, said plateprojecting laterally from said guide and formed with a pair of aperturesthrough which one end of a cable 56 is passed and tied, to anohor saidcable thereto. The cable 56 extends over the pulley 54 and has itsopposite end secured to the bearing block 32 at the forward end of theslide 26, said cable being formed with a bight between the anchor plate55 and pulley 54, in which bight a counterweight 51 is suspended. Thearrangement is such that the counterweight 51 normally urges the slide26 rearwardly to' retracted, inoperative position, as indicated by thebroken lines in Fig. 1.

In the operation of the invention, the slide 26 and mechanism carriedthereby normally are maintained in retracted, inoperative position bythe counterweight 51. With the slide so positioned, and the tirebuilding drum l2 stationary, the operator starts a tire band 52 onto theouter end of said drum. Usually the drum is wrapped with a liner ofnon-tacky fabric before the band 52 is started thereon. After the bandis positioned on the drum substantially to the extent indicated in thedrawing, the operator grasps the handle 39 and pulls the slide 26outwardly toward the drum I2, and inserts the free end of the elongaterotatable tool, that comprises the rollers 41, beneath the adjacentlateral marginal portion of the band 52, the latter being stretchable soas readily to admit the tool, The operator then starts the rotation ofthe drum i2, and by means of the handle 39, tilts the work-engaging toolso that its axis is at a slight angle to the axis of the drum, the toolbeing inclined downwardly from the axis of rod 35. Rotation of the drumis in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1 and 2, so thatthe fabric of the band 52 moves downwardly over the work-engaging tool.The result of the movement of the workfabric over the obliquely disposedrollers of the tool is to impart a progressive axial movement to thetire band. The operation is continued until the band reaches the desiredposition upon the drum, at which position the tool is substantiallycovered by the band. The operator then stops the drum, and moves thetool axially of the drum to Withdraw it from the tire band, thecounterweight 51 then restoring the tool to its normal inoperativeposition. The operator may then remove the liner from beneath themounted band, thus completing the band-mounting operation.

The apparatus is of relatively simple construction, and may be employedin the manufacture of tires of various sizes. It enables smaller men toperform tire building operations that previously required mean ofgreater stature and strength, and achieves the other advantages set outin the foregoing statement of objects.

Modification may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of theinvention or the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for mounting endless fabric bands on the rotatable drumspftire building machines,

said device comprising a slide positioned beside the tire buildingmachine and manually reciprocable parallel to the axis of the rotatabledrum thereof, a holder perpendicular to the slide swiveled on the end ofthe latter nearest the drum, a rod journaled in the holder for axial andangular movement therein, and an elongate cylindrical tool carried bysaid rod at the end thereof nearest said drum, said tool beingperpendicular to said rod and rotatable on its own axis.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 whereof the tool comprises aplurality of individual rollers journaled end to end on an axial shaft.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1 whereof the .tool is formed witha plurality of spaced apart circumferential grooves.

'4. A device for mounting endless fabric bands on the rotatable drums oftire building machines, said device comprising a slide positioned besidethe tire building machine and movable parallel to the axis of the tirebuilding drum, a holder perpendicular to the slide swiveled on the endof the latter nearest the drum, a rod journaled in the holder for axialmovement therein, an elongate tool perpendicular to the rod carriedthereby at one end thereof, and yielding means urging said rod in thedirection of said tool to a determinate position with relation to saidholder.

5. A combination as defined in claim 4 whereor" the last mentioned meansis a compression spring mounted on the rod between the tool and theholder, and stop means adjustably mounted upon the opposite end portionof the rod.

6. A device for mounting endless fabric bands on the rotatable drums oftire building machines, said device comprising a slide positioned besidethe tire building machine and manually movable parallel to the axis ofthe tire building drum to an operative position, means normally urgingthe slide to a retracted inoperative position, a holder swiveled on anend of the slide and revolvable in a plane perpendicular thereto, a rodjournaled in the holder for axial and angular movement therein, anoperating handle on one end of said rod, and a tool extending radiallyfrom the 0pposite end of said rod.

'7. A combination as defined in claim 6 including means mounting theslide upon the tire building machine, and means for adjusting the position of the slide with relation to said slide mounting means.

NORMAN T. BRULBER.

